Stamping device



April 21, 1931- R. M. DUGDALE 1,801,597

' STAMPING DEVICE Filed June 27, 1930 Zigi/7 JOHNOQQE/ linnn? nfiosrofv MASS. j Hl A- MT@ "mur 4 f IIIIlI-lllly 2l Patented Apr. 21, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE RICHARD M. DUGDALE, 0F DEDHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 FABRINGTON MASSACHUSETTS CORPORATION OF STAMPIN G DEVICE Application filed .Tune 27, 1930. Serial No. 464,225.

This invention relates to printing or or book stamping device with its side cover stamping devices of the general type exemplified by my copending application Ser1al No. 359,816 filed May 2, 1929 and Serial No. 428,359 filed February 14, 1930. Such de vices while useful in printing or stamping generally are particularly adapted for stamping customers names and addresses upon sales slips and the like in connectlon with retail transaction lin department stores and accordingly the present improvement will be described in connection with such use.

The invention has for one of its objects to prevent the use of individual printing or identification plates in stamping or prlnting devices in which they are not intended to be used. For example, the present invention provides for preventing ident1ficat1on and printing plates which have been issued to customers of one department store from being used in the printing or stamping machines of another department store in which they are not intended to be used.

Other objects of the invention are to provide cooperating stamping devices and printing plates therefor having improved reliability Vas respects their capability of preventing the reception for printing of improper printing plates, and further to provide printing plates.. for such use which shall be difficult to simulate or wrongfully alter. My invention aims also to provide an arrangement of intertting parts adapted to render the attempted insertion of an improper printing plate more apparent than heretofore. Other advantages and structural improvements will appear from the explanation in this specification and the accompanying drawing of a specific illustrative embodiment of my invention.

For the purposes of illustration and by way of example my invention will be explained by reference to one specific, embodiment wherein it is utilized in a device of the type claimedlin my copending applications referred to above.

l In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sales slip removed; Y

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the plate holder, taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan of a printing plate in the form of a token adapted to be carried by customers; and

Fig. 4 is a section line on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 on an enlarged scale.

The illustrated stamping device is provided with a backing member 11 serving to oppose the pressure of the stamping operation and supported by means of a block 12 above a base member 13 at a sufficient height to permit the introduction of a sales book therebetween, with one or more upper leaves of the sales book separated from the remainder'of the book and retained above the backing member. A casing 14 containing the pressure roller 15 and an ink ribbon 16 together with suitable ribbon advancing mechanism, is pivoted at 17 to the backing member to give access to the upper side of the backing member for the insertion of a typographical plate and the sheet or sheets of the book to be stamped. An operating handle 20 associated with the casing serves to depress a vertical plunger'member 21 within the casing and carries a cam 22 at its lower end. This cam 22 reacts upon a follower 23 to swing a bifurcated bracket 24 to the left in Fig. 1 and thereby move the pressure roller 15 across the casing and over the inked ribbon 16. i

Referring to Fig. 3 the printing plate 31, which may serve as an identication plate for customers, is preferably of sheet metal having a struck-up central portion 32 carrying raised embossed type characters 33 disposed in several lines across the longitudinal extent of the plate. For the purposes of strengthening the plate and for properly positioning the plate in a printin device the plate is preferably provided wit an outer depending flange 34 surrounding the central type-bearing portion.

The plate holder 11 is recessed at 37 as shown in Fig.'2 to receive the depending flange 34 of the printing plate. Within the recess 37 of the plate holder andextendng above the immediately adjacent portions thereof a plate support which forms part of the plate holder is provided. This plate support may be fixed, as in the' device of my copending application Serial No. 359,816 referred to above, but is preferably, as shown, of the floating type disclosed and claimed in my copending application Serial No. 428,359 which may be referred to for a fuller description of such a device. The floating plate support 39 is shown (Figs. 2 and 4) as provided with a pair of rivets 40 and 41 loosely extending through openings 44 and 45 of the backing member. A plate spring 50 which is fastened to the lower side of the backing member by a screw 51, yieldingly forces these rivets 40 and 41 and the plate support 39 upwardly until washers 46 and 47 associated with these rivets seat against the backing member 11. This arrangement of parts is such that while the plate support 39 is normally held in a level position slightly spaced above the adjacent surface of the backing member 11, (Fig. 4) yet the plate support may yieldingly tilt in either direction to accommodate irregularities in the effective heights of type characters of the various printing plates employed.

In the practice of the present invention, the plate holder and the printing plate are provided with interfitting parts, which permit the plate to seat on the holder only in case the parts register. Whilethese parts may be formed in various ways they preferably have uniform or regular shape (e. g. circles of about the same diameter), the parts being differently arranged in different machines so that only the plates made for a particular machine (o1` group of like machines) will fit in that machine. Moreover these parts are preferably removed from the margins of the plate, and holder so as not to interfere with facile and reliable operation.

Referring to Fig. 3, the printing plate therein is kprovided with three perforations disposed in a pattern which is unsymmetrical with respect to the outer contour of the printing plate. ln the preferred construction shown in Fig. 3 the perforations 60 ,are disposed between adjacent lines of type characters, each perforation thus being closely adjacent to type characters. Perforations disposed in this manner may easily be made by machinery, but are diflicult to similate by hand tool operation due to the difficulty of placing the perforations in the required pattern and due to the likelihood of interfering with or obliterating the type characters. By providing the recesses or perforations of the printing plate within .the border of the plate and separated from the border by the plate material itis unnecessary to provide the plates with irregular edges which might be objectionable from the standpoint of the customers who carry the plates.

Cooperating with these perforations of the printing plate. and adapted to register therewith, corresponding projections are provided on the plate holder, in the illustrated embodiment of the invention these projections taking the form of three f ins 65b and 65c imbedded in the plate h o der and extending through larger openings 1n the floating plate support 39 to a suiiicient height to prevent the seating of printing plates which lack the required recesses or perforations. .As will readily be apparent, a printing plate lacking the required recesses will strike the tops of the pins and thereby be prevented from seating in the plate holder. The positioning of the recesses near the central portion of the plate, as shown in Fig. 3, is deemed advantageous since pins correspondingly positioned will Contact with an improperly inserted plate adjacent its center, the plate being supported in a very unsteady manner and a marked inclination of the printing plate from the horizontal will be apparent to the operator if an attempt is made t0 insert one of the flanges 34 of the plate in the recess 37 of the plate holder. By the provision of one or more recesses 60 and one or more detector pins 65 positioned in unsymmetrical relation to the outer contour of the printing plate and to the recess 37 of the plate holder, the improper insertion of a printing plate with its lower line of type uppermost, is prevented.

As will readily be apparent, a large number of combinationsk of positions of the perforations or other recesses and thepins or other projections may be made, and it is within the intent of the present invention to provide printing plates having recesses which will interfit with more than one arrangement of projections, on diiierent plate holders. For example the printing devices of one store might be provided with only pins 65a and 65b of the above described device, while those of another store might be provided with only pins 65a and 65C. Printing plates issued to customers of both stores could then be provided with all three of the perforations 60 of the illustrated plate, so that such plates could be, used at either of the two stores. On the other hand, plates issued to customers of only one of the two stores could be provided with only the two perforations required to enable the plates to fit in the printing devices of the one particular store intended. In this way, customer-identification plates may intentionally be issued for use in one or several stores, in each case however the printing machine preventing the unauthorized use therewith of printing plates which lack the proper recessesl for that particular machine.

I claim:

1. A stamping device comprising a plate holder and a printing plate removably retained by said holder in printing position, said plate and said holder having interlitting parts spaced inwardly from the periphery of the plate to insure against unauthorized use of plates not intendedto be used in the device, the portion of the plate which interits with the holder being spaced in- Wardly from the margins of the plate.

2. A stamping device comprising a plate holder and a printing plate, the plate having a central type-bearing portion and edge flanges, and the plate holder having a recess which detachably receives the edge flanges fof the plate, said'plate having a recess within its central type-bearing area and the plate holder having a projection suitable to enter the recess and interfit therewith but adapted to prevent seating in the holder of plates lacking such recess.

3. A stamping device comprising a plate holder and a sheet metal printing plate adapted to be removably retained thereby, said plate having a plurality of perforations spaced inwardly of its margins, and

the plate holder including a surface upon which the plate is adapted to seat and a plurality of pins extending perpendicular to said surface and adapted to extend into the perforations of the plate, the pins thus preventing the firm seating of plates lacking such erforations.

4. stamping device comprising a plate holder and a printing plate adapted to be retained thereby in printing position, the plate holder having a surface upon which the plate is adapted to seat and including la plurality of pins extending generally perpendicular to said seating surface, the pins lying Within the area of the plate holder upon which the'plate is retained and being arranged in a pattern which is unsymmetrical with respect to the printing plate, and the printing plate having recesses adapted in one position of the plate to receive the said pins and thereby to permit the plate to seat, the arrangement of pins preventing seating of plates in more than one position.

5. A stamping device comprising a plate holder which includes a backing member and a oating plate support adapted to enter a struck-up portion of a sheet metal printing plate, the floating plate support having a perforation, and the device including a detecting pin extending from the backing -member through the perforation in the plate support to a suilicient height above the plate support to prevent seating thereon of printing plates lacking a recess registering with said pin.

6. A stamping device comprising aplate holder having a recess corresponding in `Shape to the marginal depending flanges of unsteady support for such plates improp,

erly placed thereon.

7 A sheet metal printing plate having thereon embossed printing characters and having a perforation spaced inward of the margins of the plate and closely adjacent to but not obliterating the printing characters.

8. A sheet vmetal printing plate having thereon lines of embossed printing characters and having perforations for determining the reception and non-reception of the plate by printing devices, the perforations being disposed between adjacent lines of printing characters.

Signed by me at Boston, Massachusetts, this 24 day of June, 1930.

RICHARD M. DUGDALE. 

